Germany resumes repatriation of Afghans after series of attacks blamed on foreigners

▲ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) said yesterday that his government had carefully prepared the deportation of Afghan convicts.Afp Photo

Reuters and Europa Press

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, August 31, 2024, p. 18

Frankfurt. Germany resumed airlifting Afghan convicts to their home country on Monday, days before German regional elections in which migration is a campaign issue. Berlin stopped returning people to Afghanistan on human rights grounds after the Taliban seized power in 2021.

The coalition government came under pressure to reverse the suspension after a deadly stabbing claimed by the Islamic State group at a festival left three dead and eight injured in the town of Solingen a week ago, and after an Afghan man stabbed a German policeman to death in June.

We have prepared it carefullysaid Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz at a press conference on the occasion of the first flight with 28 Afghans bound for Kabul.

ProAsyl, a civil organisation that provides legal and practical assistance to asylum seekers, said Friday’s deportation could be part of an irresponsible normalisation of relations with the Taliban.

This is a declaration of bankruptcy of the rule of lawTareq Alaows, spokesman for ProAsyl on refugee policy, said in a statement. Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck told Reuters that the right to asylum in Germany must remain intact. The chancellery also said that the deportation was not a step towards normalising relations with the Taliban.

Berlin is also working on deporting to Syria people who have committed serious crimes or are considered threats. terroristsSuch repatriations have long been banned in Germany, but in July a court in the western city of Muenster ruled that it no longer saw a general danger of civil war for asylum seekers from Syria.

The number of asylum seekers in Germany fell by 19.7 percent in the first seven months of 2024 compared to the previous year. The largest groups of applicants are from Syria (44,191) and Afghanistan (22,698).

Part of the German public turned against deportations in 2018 after the then German Interior Minister announced that he had deported 69 Afghans on his 69th birthday. One of them, a 23-year-old refugee, committed suicide upon arrival in Kabul.

Siegen: female attacker arrested

Five people were injured yesterday, three of them in critical condition, in a multiple stabbing attack on a bus in the western city of Siegen, according to police, who have no evidence that it was a terrorist attack.

Police arrested the alleged attacker, a 32-year-old woman, whose further details have not been released. The bus, which was carrying around 40 people, was heading to a festival in Siegen, a city located around 75 kilometres from Cologne.

The latest attacks have rekindled debate in Germany on migration and gun ownership.

This week, the government announced further restrictions on carrying knives on public transport, and total restrictions in the case of sporting events or festivals.